Reverse Nautical

An old co-worker once told me that nautical comes back every season.
This time, it came back in winter.

MEGA

I think it was in 1999 that the GAP first came out with rainbow stripe sweaters and accessories for their holiday campaign.  I remember loving the advertisements, and wanting a sweater so badly.  That would have been my freshman or sophomore year of high school, and I didn't get one until a friend was clearing out her closet in college.  I was happy to finally have it, even if it was a few years too late.  I shrunk it in the wash, but I still have it and won't give it up.

I have always thought the GAP was cool.  Always.

So here is an enormous sweater that is inspired by the GAP, with a family of welt pockets down the front.  Some might call these rugby stripes, and there they are in twelve different colors.  The pockets are perfect for carrying five cans of PBR from the refrigerator to the studio.  This, I know for sure.

WinterAlls

I admit, I felt a lot like a little kid hopping around in these shortalls yesterday.  I admit, it felt good.
Every now and then I consider it possible that everything I've ever created is really only practice for a career in designing childrenswear.  I've never actually done it, intentionally, and have a hunch that someday I will stop making adult sized kids clothes and focus on making kid sized kids clothes. 

But for the moment, what's wrong with having a little fun?  Let's all have fun! 

These are multi-color fairisle shortalls, with a doubled up welt / patch pocket combo on the front.  The bright blue buttons are from my grandmother's collection, molded faux wood grain up close.  Every time I need buttons, I go through the same routine.  I gather all of the antique jars of buttons that I have and empty them out on the big table (almost all of them are from my grandmother, or garage sale finds from my mother).  Then, I pick through them for a long time and pull out all of my favorites.  Before I make the final decision, I practice by putting all of the candidates in the desired spot and then seek a second opinion if anybody else is around.  Easy!

As I've mentioned before, I will be focusing on establishing a retail setting for my knitwear pieces when March rolls around and throughout spring and summer.  If you have contacted me about making a purchase or custom order, your name has been put on a list to be revisited in a month or so.  If you would like to be included on this list, or if you have any questions, please email annieleelarson@gmail.com.

Hearts etc. 

Getting Serious

New Land of Milk and Honey opens in just over a month.  Yesterday, I stopped by the Soap Factory to hang out with Brett and Erin Smith while they started building pieces of the installation.  It was cold in the gallery, colder than it was outside, but the sun shone bright on these two Smiths.  I really liked watching Brett and Erin work together.  I was surprised by how tough they looked when I got there, all Carhartt and surrounded by power tools.



I don't consider myself an installation artist, or even an artist at all for that matter, so addressing a physical space with fashion design has been a new challenge for me.  Figuring out a way to exhibit the costumes after the opening night performance will need to be finalized soon.  Something like the arrangement below has been in my brain...



The other major piece of this project, in conjunction with the performance is the video art by Adrian Freeman.  We spent the last weekend filming a second round for this, and now it's time to get busy.  Adrian is a genius.  The video will be projected throughout the exhibition from February 20th to April 4th, 2010. 


Croix Clayton as The VOICE

As the show approaches, we will busy wrangling models, knitting, swinging hammers, editing, deleting, dancing, rolling, drilling, hanging, fitting, projecting and so on.  This is all very exciting for me, as this project has been in work for over a year.  Blessed be the NLMH.

Fruit Loops

Gone loopy!
Oh hey look, it's another turtleneck...

This week has been so warm, who needs these things anyways?  I had fun with pockets on this one, and got to use the last of some of my very favorite yarn colors.  It's time for a re-up on some of these, I can't live without you dijon yellow...
 


Variegated Stripe Turtleneck with Chest Pockets

About Turtlenecks

Turtlenecks have been a hot topic around here lately, and it all started with the turtleneck MIDGE PAK.  While shopping around for the MP, I bought a turtleneck for myself as well, which I have been wearing religiously for days on end.  A friend stopped by a few days ago and he was wearing one too (I liked his better).  Interlock turtles and mocks have been a hot seller at Target too, it seems like people just love these things!

Well, I can see why.  Turtlenecks provide warmth and security around the neck, an often neglected part of the body.  And while they may look a little awkward at times, there is definitely a way to outsmart a turtleneck.  Just wear it with something that's more distracting than a fitted built-up neckline, like underneath something with a funnier neckline, or with a diamond and stripe pattern as you see here.

This year will be the time for turtlenecks to shine!
May all necklines be treated equally!

Introducing the MIDGE PAK

MIDGE PAKs made their debut this past holiday season, and what a hit they were!  What you see here are three different versions of the MP, assembled and packaged by me.  The MP labels were made by Eric Carlson with sticker letters found on Nicollet Avenue last summer, rub-on type, and found images from old knitwear catalogs.

This is perhaps the most grandiose of all the MP's, which houses three mocks and two turtles.  A gift for Lindsay Noble, who has been dropping hints about her new appreciation for turtlenecks for quite some time.  In the end, this pak measured almost five feet long!



Lindsay's secondary MP boasts a pair of vintage navy Bass saddle-shoes, cough drops, an old Bloomie's tote bag, and an ancient photograph I took of Lindsay in the Vatican City while we were studying in Italy.



This MP offers one work outfit, for Erin Smith who is always in need of new work gear suitable for Target.  Provided in this MP is one green melange hand-made wool skirt, an Ann Taylor sweater in a beautiful blend of fancy yarns and a funny little hat that isn't work appropriate at all.

X & O & X & O & X

This is a love sweater!
The pattern is a repeated capital "X", but when all the letters are strung together, O's are formed in between.  No kisses without a hug, so coy is Joy!  This is the second time this week I have made this sweater.  No need to go into details, the first one will just have to hang on the rail until there is a small child to wear it.  Children need sweaters too.

X & O

And so on, and so on...

In other news, we bought a new laser printer last weekend and I have started modifying and printing my patterns on the computer instead of scrawling them out by hand.  This is a great development because hand writing was very time-consuming, and now all of my patterns look uniform which is what I was trying to do with Le Pens and graph paper before.  Copy and paste, copy and paste!  Easy.  After the show, I plan to make the big jump and invest in Design-A-Knit software for knitting machines (also known as DAK for MK nerds).  It turns out that I really like knitting, I could do this for awhile...
 

X & O Cardigan Modeled by Joy Janice

RED FRIENDS - Joy Janice & Eric's Wall All

OH HELLO SNOW

Finishing these two pieces probably should have taken less time than it did, but I was feeling a little rusty from having almost two weeks off from knitting.  When I sat down behind the machine, my hands felt big and dumb.  I couldn't remember where any of my tools were because everything was too well organized after we rearranged our entire apartment last weekend.  I suppose it's just another reminder that I need to knit every day to keep things moving forward.  Oh, I'm being dramatic.

Anyway, things are fine and today felt like a good, normal day with soft music in the morning and loud music in the afternoon.  I finished the sweater from the last post, changing my mind again about the neck and head.  Inspired by the holidays, I changed it to a mini-stripe mock neck with a detachable hood.  Also, notice the underarm gussets, in matching mini-stripes.  The shorts/underwear are a simple two color fairisle "X" pattern with rib hems and elastic waistband. 

Modeled by Joy Janice.

Home to This

My tropical vacation is over.
Our home feels new again.
I have a lot of work to do.

I spent the last week in Hawaii with my family.  It was 85 and sunny nearly every day.  I splashed around in the ocean, lounged on the beach, ate way more hot dogs than usual, and didn't have a single use for a sweater.  Things have been a little willy nilly around here, in light of holiday festivities and tropical vacations.  Being home feels nice, and I do feel refreshed and ready to hunker down again, just me and my needles.

Before I left for vacation, I was working on developing this pattern for a new sweater design.  There will be a few new details built into this garment that I've been wanting to try out, like underarm gussets, set-in sleeves, and cone shaped ninja hoods.  On a sheepish note, I am learning quickly to dismiss any prior notions I've had about how big a neck hole needs to be to fit the average head, the primary reason this is still a work in progress.  Gahhhh.